charmed as I am by the sputter

Knitters talk about the affliction of 'startitis,' a condition in which the knitter casts on an irrational number of projects in a very short time. Many (if not most) of these projects then become Un-Finished Objects (UFOs) that haunt project baskets and closets for years to come.

Less common is 'finish-it-upitis' which presents, as you might expect, the opposite symptom: a maniacal urge to finish all the unfinished projects.

I've had a mild case of the latter condition for most of October, brought on by both the cooler weather and the furlough. I needed something to take my mind off the shutdown, but didn't dare spend very much money on entertainment, and so I pulled out the knitting.

I've finished three things since the first of the month. Two of the now-finished items are for Christmas and therefore unbloggable at this time, and the third is entirely ridiculous.

Behold the Bacon Scarf:



Pattern: Makin' Bacon
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft Solids in Autumn Red and Off White
US 7 / 4.5 mm needles

This is a gift for a guildmate in WoW. We've been playing together for close to 9 years now and he's been asking me to make him something for close to 8 and a half.

The pattern is very simple -- it's just the feather and fan pattern worked lengthwise, with occasional colour changes to make the streaks. The only problem with it is that because it is worked lengthwise, the rows are 270-some stitches long and take forever. The finished scarf is close to 72 inches long (measured scientifically from the tip of my fingers to the tip of my nose and back again) which is rather a long row. Rather a long cast-off, for that matter.

I have 3 more UFOs in my project basket, plus a mighty backlog of queued projects. I doubt I will be able to maintain my October pace in November (for one thing, I will not be sitting at home while our representative assembly poses and mouths) but I do hope to get at least one of those things done.

Dorothea Grossman